Rescued

Love to the Uttermost

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.-Hebrews 7:23-25

Often, the language of the Bible really strikes me.  I was reading in Hebrews this morning and verse 25 is worth spending the day meditating on.  It tells us that, for those that draw near to him, Jesus saves to the uttermost.  In other words, he saves to the ultimate degree, to the greatest possible extent.  He will go as far as he needs to save.  Furthermore, because he lives forever, he is always available to do so.  The end of verse 25 says that he "lives to make intercession for them."  He intercedes, again and again, with the Father on our behalf. 

Rest in his effusive, neverending love and intercession.

Batman cannot save you

Over at the Mockingbird blog, Bryan shares his reflections on The Dark Knight Rises, the subsequent violence, and what it means. Though the whole thing is worth reading, the final paragraph is powerful and hopeful.

So where do you turn when there’s no Batman to save you? Where do you go when diagnosis is accurate but the prescription is nowhere to be found? Who will save us when our proverbial city erupts in flames because of our own doing?   I think if I’m honest with myself, and I trust that “what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies,” my heart flees to Jesus because he is my only hope.  He is my deliverer who, though I am part of the system of violence in our world,  does not count my complicity in the systems of the world against me.  It’s trite to suggest that “Jesus is my Batman,” because Batman never died for my sins, nor is he an agent of grace and forgiveness.  Instead, I will simply suggest that, unlike many philosophers with book deals, suffering and violence in my world actually drives me to the crucified savior, not from him.  Deliverance will come when Jesus, like the walls of Jericho, makes our fourth walls “come a tumblin’ down” with grace, love, and deliverance.  May he return soon and do so, that such violence as we have seen this week might never weigh down our souls again.

Read the rest here.  

Praying the Sinner's Prayer

A few month ago, this video made the rounds.



Since then, there has been a lot of dialog in the Christian blogosphere about the concept of "praying to ask Jesus into your heart."  Today, JD Grear wrote an insightful post at Christianity today about the sinner's prayer.  Specifically, he addresses those who have fleeting assurance and those who have false assurance. Here are a few quotes worth considering:

• I have begun to wonder if both problems, needless doubting and false assurance, are exacerbated by the clichéd ways in which we (as evangelicals) have learned to speak about the gospel. Evangelical shorthand for the gospel is to "ask Jesus into your heart," or "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior," or "give your heart to Jesus." These phrases may not be wrong in themselves, but the Bible never tells us, specifically, to seek salvation in those ways. The biblical summation of a saving response toward Christ is "repentance" and "belief" in the gospel.
• Belief and repentance are the only prescribed biblical instruments for laying hold of salvation. They might be expressed in a "sinner's prayer," but they are fundamentally postures of the heart toward God. It is possible to pray a sinner's prayer and not have repented and believed. It is also possible to repent and believe without articulating such a prayer.
• Conversion to Christ is like sitting down in a chair. If you are seated right now, there was a point in time in which you transferred the weight of your body from your legs to the chair. You may not even remember making that decision, but the fact you are seated now proves that you did.
  Salvation is a posture of repentance and faith toward the finished work of Christ in which you transfer the weight of your hopes of heaven off of your own righteousness and onto Jesus Christ. It does begin in a moment, but it persists for the rest of your life. The way to know you made the decision is by the posture you are currently in. The apostle John almost always talks about "believing" in the present tense because it is something we do continually, not something we did once in the past (e.g. John 3:36; 20:27-28; 9:36-38; 1 John 5:13). The posture begins at a moment, but it persists for a lifetime.
   
   You can read the rest here. 

A Palm Sunday meditation

    The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
    “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
    behold, your king is coming,
        sitting on a donkey's colt!”
    His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.-John 12:12-19

It had been prophesied hundreds of years earlier that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to shouts of rejoicing. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"  The people had seem him work wonders.  They had seen him do the impossible.   In fact, he had just raised a man from the dead who had been entombed 4 days.  It was a miracle. 

Yet, in less than a week, all that would change.  The joyous shouts of "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" would turn into angry shouts of "crucify him!"  The fickle crowd, so easily swayed by the Pharisaic leadership and their own sinful hearts would soon demand his blood. 

It is so easy for us today, in the light of history, to look back with contempt upon the mercurial crowds who loved and accepted him one moment and despised and rejected him the next.  Yet we must recognize that we are no different.  We sing his praises on Sunday morning and by Monday, our bitter words and sinful actions lead him betray our confidence in him.  Based upon our actions, we may as well have been a part of the crowd shouting crucify. 

We are sinners.  That is why Christ came--to deliver us from our perpetual sin.  So while we celebrate his triumphal entry today proclaiming "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" let us also remember that we are no different from the angry mob, all of us in need of a Savior.  

A Saving Father

A few days ago, I had not heard from Tessa in a few minutes. It dawned on me that she and Ian had been playing in the garage together but that he was now inside. I went to the garage and found a frantic child, fearfully running to and fro. Once she spotted me, she ran to my arms, assured that I could save her. I was able to comfort her merely by embracing her.  Had I left Tessa alone in the garage, she would have been hopeless to save herself. There was nothing in her that could have freed her from the garage. She required her father to save her.

We are also hopeless to save ourselves. We need our Father to save us. Once he opens the door, we can run to Him in faith, but He is still the one who does the saving because we are absolutely powerless to do it ourselves.  Praise be to God, that He saves us even in our powerlessness. 

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. -Romans 9:16

Terminal

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. -Psalm 144:4

A few days ago, my mom told me that my dear uncle has colon cancer. Yesterday, she called me to tell me that an MRI revealed cancer in his lungs, liver, and lymph nodes and that the clinical picture is grave. Stage 4 cancer. Terminal cancer.

I too am grieved by this news. Though I treasure time spent with him, I do not get to see him as often as I would like. His calm spirit and love for others draws people to him. For as long as I have known him, he has loved God and treasured his family. He desires unity with others and when unity does not occur, it affects him deeply. He lives out the gospel in service to his church, to his family, and to anyone who might need a hand without any expectation for recompense. I suppose for that reason, alongside my tears of grief flow tears of inexpressible joy that my uncle is saved. My uncle will one day soon, whether weeks from now or years from now, be face to face with Jesus.

Suffering and illness seem strangely present in our lives over the past couple of years. Not only was Heather diagnosed with breast cancer seven months ago, but many friends of ours have been faced with frequent, painful trials (see here for a taste). These trials we face have led to a lot of introspection, a recognition of what is truly important in life, and a sense of urgency to tell people about what is important.

Jesus.

Jesus is all that is important. The only hope we have in this life and the life to come is in Jesus (Acts 4:12). I truly believe that my uncle knows that Jesus is everything. Sadly, I don't believe that everyone reading this believes or lives like Jesus is all that matters. Including some of my family and friends whom I love dearly. And knowing that some of you may not be in heaven with me grieves me much more deeply than knowing that my uncle has terminal cancer.

We are all terminal. Every one of us. We will all one day die and when we do, we will either get to spend eternity with Jesus, or we will spend eternity in hell, separated from God. Please, please, please do not read what I have written here and say to yourself "oh, Jason's uncle sure is a good man" or "that Jason is such a thoughtful writer" and go on about your day (James 1:23-24). Let yourself be uncomfortable. Ponder the fact that my uncle's life, my life, your life is a breath.

Take some time to look into the mirror of your soul. Too many of you believe that because you are good people or go to church or grew up in a Christian home that you are going to heaven some day, if you even bother to think about heaven, or God, at all. Your goodness is not a ticket to heaven. God's standard for you is perfection. Romans 3:23 says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That's right. You. Me. Sinners. We fall short of God's standard and we all deserve death. Romans 6:23 says, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Our only hope is through accepting that free gift of grace that was offered to us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Romans 10:9-10 tells us how to receive this gift: "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." If you don't know how to pray or are not sure if you are saved, or if you have questions about Jesus, please contact me. Do not wait another minute. There is nothing more important.

I urge you to watch the video I posted below. It is of a young man named Zac Smith who died of cancer 2 days ago. His message should be a wake up call to all of us about what is important.

I love you and I'm praying for you uncle.